


Not What You Would Expect

by AnnCherie



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Canonical Character Death, Child Abuse, Childhood Friends, Children, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family, Growing Up, Growing Up Together, Romance, Teen Romance, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-15 06:09:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1294288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnCherie/pseuds/AnnCherie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Growing up with someone in the small town of Mystic Falls, especially when your families were friends, tends to make it hard to not know everything about your best friend's brother or the pesky little girl running around your house. But when you know everything about someone, sometimes it just makes it that easier to fall in love with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not What You Would Expect

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All characters and settings belong to LJ Smith and the CW respectively.

Third Grade

  
  


“Stefan and Elena, kissing in the tree- k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage--,”

Both Elena and Stefan were currently ignoring Duke, the fifth grader who was taunting them with the annoying song. Neither of them cared about being teased about being boyfriend or girlfriend anymore, not when they had been friends so long and their families did it often enough anyway. So Stefan kept pushing Elena on the swing set and they pretended they didn’t hear anything even though the other kids on the playground were starting to take notice of the scene.

Apparently Duke did not appreciate his efforts going unchallenged because he quickly got angrier and stopped singing, only to snap, “Your eyes look like _mud_ , Elena. They’re gross.”

This made Elena stop swinging and frown. She had never been told that her eyes-- or any part of her for that manner-- was ugly, and for a minute she almost started crying until Stefan stepped around her and quickly retorted, “No, they don’t. Go away, Duke.”

“You only think that ‘cause you’re in _love_ with her,” Duke told Stefan, making the other kids “ooh” and the happiness she had felt at Stefan standing up for her fade, “I bet you’re even having sex with her.”

This didn’t really make sense to Elena or Stefan, but both of them were smart enough to know that it was a really terrible insult. Stefan was starting to look pretty angry now that Duke hadn’t just left them alone, and he stepped forward again before Elena grabbed his arm.

Duke sneered at them while the other kids watched with baited breath. “What are you going to do, fight me little kid?”

Stefan didn’t really look like he wanted to fight him, angry or not. He knew he would get in trouble and then the teachers would tell his Dad who would be furious. Plus Duke was more than twice Stefan’s size. Elena thought about helping him out and just telling a teacher, but then she knew Duke and the other kids would just tease them about that next. She felt panic building up inside her until everyone turned and she heard a voice ask, “What are you doing, Duke?”

She turned to see a very threatening looking Damon. Apparently he had caught sight of the scene from the soccer field where he had been playing kickball with the other boys in his grade. He didn't look like he had been having fun a few moments earlier though. He looked like he was ready to hit Duke just for going near Stefan.

Duke glared at Damon. “Don’t worry about it.”

“He’s my brother,” Damon said angrily, looking scary even though Duke was still bigger and older than him too. Elena thought Duke looked a little afraid too. “So you better leave him alone.”

“Fine,” Duke conceded, suddenly backing down a little bit before turning mean again and saying, “Elena’s the one with the stupid eyes. Your brother thinks they’re cute though, I bet they’re having sex---,”

But before he could even finish Damon lunged at Duke, pinning him to the ground and beginning to punch him. Whatever Duke had meant by that “sex” thing, Damon seemed to understand completely. Stefan started to move forward to help Damon but the cheering kids had alerted one of the teachers to the fight.

Elena tried yelling at them to stop so they wouldn’t get in trouble, but Miss Pearl reached them before that happened and pulled the two boys apart. Giving the strictest glare possible, she demanded to know, “What’s going on here? Damon, I’ve told you about fighting already---,”

“It’s not his fault!” Elena defended and Miss Pearl gave her a very appraising look. Even though the teacher probably wouldn’t have believed Stefan because it was his brother involved, everyone at the school knew that Elena followed the rules. “Duke said I had ugly eyes and then-- well he said something really mean but I don’t know what it means.”

She looked to Damon then, hoping he would be able to explain better. Stefan’s brother glared at Duke the whole time, looking as though he would continue punching him as soon as he could before saying, “He said Stefan and Elena were having sex ‘cause he’s a pervert and his mom is a slut--,”

“ _Damon_!” Miss Pearl admonished, a severe look on her face that made Elena’s stomach feel uneasy.

“Yeah, well at least my mom didn’t die ‘cause she hated me so much!” Duke argued, and not even Miss Pearl could hold back Damon then, or Stefan who also jumped in to get some hits. If Miss Pearl wasn’t standing right there Elena probably would have thought about helping them herself, so mad at how rude and horrible what Duke had said was. Miss Pearl left to get another teacher after unsuccessfully yelling for a few minutes and it wasn’t until Duke had two black eyes and a cut lip that the P.E. teacher Mr. Hamilton was able to pull them all apart.

Stefan only had a bruise on his cheek, but Damon’s forehead was bleeding pretty badly making Elena want to cry at the sight. Mr. Hamilton and Miss Pearl marched them all to Principal Fell’s office as the other kids watched them go in silence, and while Elena wasn’t worried about herself she was still scared for Stefan and Damon. No one wanted to get in trouble and she knew that this was the first time Stefan had ever been scolded by a teacher, let alone someone as important as the Principal.

Principal Fell took one look at all of them before having Elena explain everything and then gave Stefan and Damon detention and Duke suspension before commenting that both injured boys needed to see the nurse. Stefan waited in the office with Duke and the Principal while their parents were called and Elena was allowed to walk Damon to the nurse’s office since Duke’s lip had stopped bleeding.

“Sorry, Damon,” Elena said, feeling extremely guilty that he had gotten hurt and dragged into a fight over something as stupid as her eyes.

“It’s okay,” he shrugged, holding a tissue to his forehead clumsily. Elena hated the sight of blood and so she tried to focus on the hallway walls instead filled with pictures and class projects. It didn’t really help.

“He was a huge jerk about your mom,” she said, unable to stop herself from talking to him again. “I know she loved you and Stefan a lot.”

Damon looked over at her, but all he said was, “Thanks.”

Even though she and Stefan were pretty close Damon had never really paid much attention to her when she was around, so she hoped that she wasn’t being too annoying. She knew that kids littler than you could be ‘cause her brother Jeremy sort of irritated her sometimes too. Yet she still trusted Damon enough to ask, “Do you think my eyes are ugly?”

He looked back at her again, watching her carefully for a moment without saying anything as they walked. She felt really nervous now that she had asked him, knowing that he wouldn’t lie to her. Curiosity had gotten the better of her since Duke said that Stefan’s opinion didn’t count. “No, Duke was just being mean ‘cause you’re pretty.”

Elena felt herself breathe a sigh of relief, even though she thought it was super gross that Duke might like her like _that_. If any other boy had said it she might have blushed, but she knew that Damon was the last person that would have a crush on her so she didn’t think anything more of it.

“Maybe you should find some girl friends to hang out with though,” Damon added after a few seconds.

“Why?” she asked, feeling her stomach fall. She had been friends with Stefan for forever and Damon had never complained or said anything really mean to her. He just teased them like their parents did and did other common sibling stuff. Did Damon just not like her now?

“Because people are going to keep teasing you about him,” he answered as they reached the nurse’s office. He stopped their conversation and went inside, and she sat on the bench outside and thought about what he had said.

In all the years that they had known each other, Elena had never cared about people teasing her and Stefan. It was just something that people did and since neither she or Stefan actually had crushes on each other they just ignored it. Sometimes they even made jokes about how gross it was. But maybe Damon was right… he was older than her, after all. Plus Stefan would never play Barbies with her ‘cause he was too scared that Damon would find out. She wondered which of the girls she knew would really be good friend material though. Dana was in her class and was nice, but Elena thought about how she was obsessed with the color pink and thought that was a little too girly. She would probably only want to play tea parties or something. Amber was also nice but she had a crush on Stefan and so that would be really weird. Maybe Bonnie, Elena thought, thinking how the girl was always really nice to her and talked about cool things like witches and magic. Yeah, Bonnie would be a cool friend to have. Her parents would be happy she was making more friends too.

  
Damon came out of the office with a band-aid on his head that had Iron Man on it. She remembered that he was his favorite superhero. She gave him a smile as they walked very slowly back to the principal’s office, making Elena wonder if he was worried about his Dad coming.

“Cool band-aid,” she said.

“Thanks,” Damon said easily, as if he knew it was and didn’t need her to tell him.

That sort of annoyed her, and so she replied, “I like Batman better though.”

And suddenly she had his full attention, surprising her and making her nervous. Damon didn’t look like he approved of her reasoning at all. “Why, ‘cause he’s an orphan? Iron Man is totally smarter and he’s cool. He has lots of money and girlfriends.”

“Batman does too,” she argued, “and I like him ‘cause he doesn’t ever kill people, no matter what.”

Damon looked pretty bugged, but he didn’t say she was stupid or anything like he did to Stefan when he disagreed. Instead he shook his head at her and said, “You really are a goodie-two-shoes. I’m surprised you don’t like Superman.”

She did like Superman a lot, probably more than Batman, but she had figured that the former would be cooler and had wanted to impress Damon after he had saved her and Stefan. Now she was stuck so she simply raised her chin and replied, “Well I don’t. Besides I know you watched that Superman show, Stefan told me.”

“‘Cause he’s part of the Justice League!” Damon half-yelled in his own defense, “The comics make more sense if you know all of the stories. It’s like trying to watch Aladdin the cartoon without seeing the movie.”

“You like Aladdin?” she asked quickly, surprised. That was one of her favorite movies because Jasmine was so cool and Aladdin was really cute. It was one of the only Disney cartoons she watched every time it was on.

“Yeah,” he admitted grudgingly, apparently not happy that he had let that slip in his rush to argue, “‘cause he breaks the rules but he’s still the good guy.”

“Like you!” she said, giving him a big smile.

He watched her for a moment as they almost came to the office before giving her a rare smile too. “Yeah, I guess.”

But before they could say anything else or Elena could ask if he thought she was cool enough to be Jasmine, Mr. Salvatore caught sight of them from where he was standing at the office entrance. She sure hoped that Damon wouldn’t get into too much trouble. Maybe she could tell her Dad to talk to his. After all, Damon was the good guy.

 

 

 


End file.
